Brad Pitt, Who Won an Oscar For Playing a Stuntman, Becomes Real Life Stuntman

Leonardo DiCaprio won an Oscar for playing a fur trader but did not then go out and become a fur trader himself. George Clooney won his for playing a CIA agent but has not actually joined the CIA (to our knowledge anyway). Brad Pitt, however, won his first acting Oscar last year for playing a stuntman in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood and is now apparently very interested in doing as much actual stunt acting work as he possibly can.

Pitt, 57, is currently filming the action thriller Bullet Train, which co-stars everyone from Sandra Bullock to Bad Bunny (with a rumored appearance by Lady Gaga). And according to the film’s second-unit director Greg Rementer, he’s doing “95 percent of his physical stunts.”

“He’s like a natural-born athlete. He really got in there!” Rementer told Vulture.

This is especially notable because the film is being directed by David Leitch, who once worked as Pitt’s own stunt double. Before making a name for himself as a director with flicks like John Wick and Atomic Blonde, Leitch doubled for Pitt on films like The Mexican, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Ocean’s Eleven, Troy, and Fight Club among other non-Pitt work. Judging from his background and previous directorial effort, we’d assume Leitch would have high expectations when it comes to stunt work.

Though, apparently, most of the cast is getting into it as well. “Never have I ever done so many huge actors in one feature where all of them excelled at the physical movement of our training,” says Rementer.

Bullet Train may be based on a Japanese novel but the exact plot of the adaptation is being kept under wraps. Though, we do know Pitt plays one of five assassins who all find themselves on the same high-speed train tasked with doing the same job unbeknownst to the others.